Well, I was not chosen as a finalist for the Semmys, but its okay. As they say, “it is an honor to be nominated”. There were some great articles this past year. I definitely can not say my writings were better than the finalists.

Local Search
Anatomy & Optimization of A Local Business Profile - By Chris “Silver” Smith

Analytics
Web Analytics Demystified - By Avinash Kaushik, Occam’s Razor

Google
Google 2.0: Google Universal Search - By Danny Sullivan

SEO
SEO Linking Gotchas Even the Pros Make - By Andy Beard

Online Marketing / General
How A Pretty Face Can Push Visitors Away - By Bryan Eisenberg

PPC
Five Common Paid Search Mistakes That Can Sink Your Campaign - By Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide
* This one mentions some of the same points that I mentioned in 7 Habits of Highly Effective PPC Advertisers. However, Jennifer does a much better job of explaining in many of the points. Plus, she has some other great points that I left off. I strive to write as good as her.

Small Business
When Ignorance Isn’t Bliss: What You Don’t Know About Your Web Site Can Hurt You - By Christine Churchill

LOL Funny!
Web 3.0 Sites - By Philipp Lenssen, Google Blogoscoped

Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing is NOT the Same as Word of Mouth - By Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide

Renowned tech insiders Joseph Jaffe and C.C. Chapman to Speak to local bloggers, podcasters, social networking specialists, new media marketers, and business leaders

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Members of the marketing, business, design, technology and music industries will gather at the historic Cannery Ballroom on February 9, 2008, for PodCamp Nashville, a nine hour “unconference” that aims to promote education, innovation and collaboration between technology and media professionals and Nashville’s blogging and podcasting communities.

“This is all about building community,” said Dave Delaney, an event organizer. “That’s what we’re trying to do here. By attending PodCamp Nashville, members of the blogging, podcasting, marketing, development and business communities will be able to join forces to put Nashville on the digital world map. After the huge success of BarCamp Nashville, it’s clear that Nashville’s tech community is alive and kicking.”

PodCamp Nashville (www.podcampnashville.com) is a community “unconference” for podcasters and listeners, bloggers and readers, and anyone interested in New Media. The first PodCamp was held in September 2006 in Boston, and the concept is now spreading across the world. PodCamp Nashville is a follow up to the highly acclaimed BarCamp Nashville, an “unconference” held in August 2007. A video recap is available here: barcampnashville.com.

PodCamp is spearheaded by Delaney along with Kelly Stewart and Marcus Whitney, area leaders in the fields of technology and New Media. The event, which is free to the public, is designed for anyone interested in the online world to share ideas, hear from industry experts, and participate in discussions and demos.

Don’t miss PodCamp Nashville’s keynote speakers, Joseph Jaffe and C.C. Chapman. Jaffe is one of the most sought-after consultants, authors, speakers and thought leaders on New Marketing. He is the President and Chief Interruptor of crayon, a conversational marketing company, specializing in community, dialogue and partnership. C.C. Chapman has been described as a New Media maven, a podcasting pioneer and a grounded futurist. Chapman is a Partner of The Advance Guard, a new company focusing on using social media and emerging technology to create radical marketing programs.

New Media Marketing experts predict that businesses will thrive in 2008 if they embrace social media and conversational marketing methodologies. Forrester Research predicts that spending on interactive technologies will grow to $61 billion by 2012 and social media (podcasting, blogging, etc.) will drive emerging channels to $10.6 billion.

Participants of PodCamp Nashville are guaranteed to return to their offices revitalized and excited about what New Media has to offer. Students, hobbyists and professionals are encouraged to attend to network and to learn. Experience with blogging or podcasting are not requirements to participate:

Anyone with an interest in technology and new media is welcome to attend.

PodCamp Nashville is proudly presented by the PodCamp Nashville Crew (PCNC), Emma Email Marketing, Griffin Technology and Sitening.

PodCamp Nashville will be held on February 9, 2008 at the historic Cannery Ballroom from 9am — 6pm. Visit podcampnashville.com to learn more.

Nominations for the first Semmys were recently announced recently.

The awards recognize the best articles in search engine marketing over the past year. “The SEMMYS are an annual awards event honoring the great content produced across the search and online marketing industry.” - Semmys.org

I was honored to be nominated in the PPC Category, for Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertisers.

The finalist will be announced around January, 23rd. From there the public can vote for a winner. In the PPC category, the judges are Christine Churchill and Aaron Wall. With that being said ….

Have I mentioned how much of a fan I am of Christine Churchill and Aaron Wall? They are geniuses and masters of search engine marketing. Their intelligence is beyond belief, and they would … (too much?)

Christine Churchill is the President of KeyRelevance and a frequent speaker and contributor to the search engine marketing community. Christine can also be found on SEMClubHouse.com

Aaron Wall is SeoBook.com, one of the leading SEO blogs around. SEOBook.com has long been a source for quality articles in the industry..

(Link love never hurts)

1. Sell and Educate

Prepare to spend 50% of your time selling and educating the company on SEO. This is not snake oil. Search engine marketing can make or break a business. Unfortunately, in-house staff will often have to spend a large portion of time convincing the “older” generation.
Setup meetings, trainings, presentations, webinars, whatever it takes. Keep in the company informed and stay ahead of the questions. Everyone things they are an expert, but you are the only one getting paid to be the expert. A lack of continuing education will result in unwanted “experts” advising and taking SEO matters in their own hands.

2. Strong Analytics

It is hard to argue with numbers. Before taking any in-house SEM job, it’s important to make sure you have, or able to purchase, the right analytics packages. Once in place, showing results in revenue directly related to search engine marketing will bring anyone to attention.

3. Ego Rankings

Any expert in search engine marketing will tell you that certain keywords bring in high traffic and some may bring in high revenue. Often those keywords are not the same. Obviously, you want high revenue keywords.
However, there are often many keywords that management and executives want rankings with. These are Ego keywords, not money words. However, appeasing management with rankings on their personal keywords can go a long way. Plus, there may be legitimate reasons beyond immediate revenue that may pay off down the road on these keywords.

One of the most frequent comments I hear is: “Paid Ads? Oh, I never click on those”.

The fact is that’s simply not true.

I want to pass off an article that I contributed on SearchEngineLand.com that address that comment and others.

If Paid Search Isn’t Working Then You’re Doing Something Wrong

Greg Meyers posted a great article on paid search marketing here: www.semgeek.com/semgeek/2007/12/writing-effecti.html

A couple of his points that I loved:

• “First make sure Ads are set to ROTATE and NOT Optimize.”
  Do not let the search engines determine the success of your hands. Only you and your analytics can determine. Just because an ad received the most clicks, does not make it successful.
• “Understanding what Messaging works best with your customers and prospects is more important than writing and testing 10-20 different ads with the only difference being a few words being moved from description line #1 to line #2.”
  Too many people make it too complicated. Let the numbers speak for themselves.

Greg’s points coincide with my Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertisers:

1. Separate Content from Search
2. Control spending by adjusting bid amounts, not daily spend budget
3. Create a negative keyword list

Find the rest here: www.johnwellis.com/seven-habits-of-highly-effective-pay-per-click-advertisers/